American History

The Acts of the Apostles is one of the 66 books in the Christians holy book, the Bible. The book, whose authorship is not clear (many scholars agree that probably the book was written by Luke, a one time companion of Paul, in 80-90 C.E.spark notes, 2010) chronicles the first instances of evangelism by some of the early followers of Christ, notably Simon Peter and Paul.  Actually, the book of Acts is the best evidence we have on the early church. Jesus Christ under whose shadow Christians stand, and whose teachings form the hallmark of Christian teachings and belief is said to have been miraculously born of Jewish parents in Nazareth, and after baptism he is said to have crisscrossed parts of the Roman Empire preaching reconciliation and repentance.

This book  that It depicts the story of the spread of Christianity, the growing distance between Christianity and Judaism, the move toward earthly concerns rather than apocalyptic expectations, and the triumph of the Christian message despite persecutions  (Sparknotes, 2010) is instrumental in the study of not only the structure and functions of the Church during the Holy Roman Empire but also in understanding important aspects of Western Civilization.

This book, by highlighting some of the great pain and persecutions these early missionaries endured in the hands of some radical faithfuls and non-Christians kind of preludes the horrendous persecutions Christians would soon go through in the hands of the Roman officials due to their unshakable faith. The book also paints a picture of a determined  Paul who suffered a great deal to  get the gospel-or the good news- spread throughout the Roman Empire it also showcases some of the splendid miracles performed by these disciples in a bid to legitimize and give credence to their message . But more than anything else, with its highlight on the missions of such Church fathers as Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus, it forms the basis of Christianity and consequently Western Civilization.

The initial part of the book is dedicated to the works of such Disciples of Christ as Peter and the twelve Disciples of Christ. The papacy arose from Peter. Peter, according to the Bible was chosen by Christ as rock upon which Christ would build his church.  Thus Christians in Rome would later on assert that Peter had been the first bishop of the Roman church and had passed on his authority to the bishops who succeeded him (Hopfe and Woodward, 2004, p.298). The term would later on evolve from bishop to pope.

Peter leads all the other missionaries in spreading Christs word. He is depicted as one whose strict adherence to Christs teachings is unwavering. He says, We must obey God rather than men (5Acts29) when commanded not to preach in the name of Christ. Indeed, this philosophy laid the foundation on which successive generations of Christians in Rome would defy the Roman governments decree that all people pay some respect to the emperor.  It was still in Christs name that Peter and his team were time and again brought before the Sanhedrin and even jailed.

According to Acts, Peter and the other disciples evangelism began just after Christs ascendancy to heaven. This happened when they were congregated somewhere and they were filled up with the Holy Spirit that enabled them to speak in different tongues. These different tongues would enable them reach out to the different peoples in the Roman Empire n (Kraeling, 1967).

Granted, Peter and the other disciples were significant in the establishment of the early Church, but it was Paul of Tarsus, a Jew and a Roman citizen of the province of Cilician that had great contribution in the spread and strength of Christianity and ultimately the shaping of Western civilization. Paul not only traversed a larger part of Rome than Peter and his team, he also knew a lot about the Greco-Roman culture, cultures that at times ran counter to Christian teachings and belief (Krailing, 1967).

Saul of Tarsus came to know Christ after persecuting Christians for a while. The writer of Acts says that it was while on his way to Damascus from Jerusalem, on a mission to persecute Christians, that this young Pharisee zealot who must have been educated in Hellenistic culture (Kraeling, 1967, p.380 Craig et al, 1997, p. 163) was suddenly waylaid by an apparition that blinded him and asked him why he was persecuting Christians.  The events that followed would transform Saul from a persecutor to a staunch evangelist, may be the staunchest evangelist the Christian world has ever seen. His name was in effect changed from Saul to Paul.

In fact, no more able minister ever lived than this inspired man who bore the gospel of Christ to all who would hear it. Preaching, teaching, writing, healing, he traveled 12,000 miles on his epic mission. In four great journeys he traversed Asia Minor, crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece, and voyaged on the Mediterranean to Crete, Malta, Rome itself (Ibid, p.392). This he achieved through his many missions he took across the Roman land.

Of the four of these epic journeys, three of them he began at Antioch, the city in which the disciples were called Christians first (Acts 11 8). In these journeys, following in the footsteps of Peter and other disciples before him, he performed miraculous signs and wonders. But Paul did more than just performing some miraculous signs and wonders he extended an olive branch to the non-Jews in the Roman Empire, the Gentiles. Such Gentiles included the citizens of the Lycanonian cities of Lystra and Derbe Those who apparently mistook Paul and Barnabas miraculous signs for the coming down of gods in human form. These Greeks called Barnabas Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker (Acts 14-12).

In one of his many writings encapsulated in the Bible, Paul wonders Is God the God of the Jews only Is he not also the God of the Gentiles Yes, of the Gentiles also (Romans). He achieved this by first and foremost rejecting circumcision as a condition of membership to Christian faith. Paul thus firmly established the Christian faith on the basis of personal faith rather than ethnic identity, bloodlines, or observation of the Mosaic law (Mortimer et al, 1999).

His journeys took him through the cities of Antioch, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Cyrene, Judea, Caesarea, Tyre, Sidon, Jerusalem, Seleucia, Salamis, Paphos and others.

Paul would thus become the Apostle to the Gentiles change the course of Christianity, and with it, the course of the world (Kraeling, 1967).  He would be martyred in Rome, and his memory stamped on this city that he had lived for twelve years in his own hired house (Acts 28 30) by the construction of the Church of St. Paul of Three Fountains, where legend has it that water sprung up as his head struck the ground thrice(Kraeling, 1967, p.390).

Kraeling also notes that though this man of faith, just as Abraham and others before Paul, was dead, the faith was not. The end of Paul, he notes, was but a beginning. Paul would leave a blueprint on which successive Christian missionaries would chart their way to greater heights. Armed with the values of fortitude and a deep passion for their patrons convictions and teachings, Christians would remain steadfast on their religious espouses even in the face of Roman governments proscription.
Actually, Christians just as Jews before them were a besieged lot in the Roman Empire, thanks to their unwavering faith and at first their secretive nature of worship that made them appear as though practicing cultism. Apart from cultism Christians were also in the infant stages of their movement accused of cannibalism (Hopfe and Woodward, 2004). But it was the grid lock between the Christian community and the Roman establishment that that proved to be a real test to Christians faith.
The Roman government, in their spirit of egalitarianism, would permit different beliefs to subsist in their jurisdiction. At some point, the Roman only asked that veneration be shown on official to the traditional gods and to the deified emperorsbut Christians, just like the Jews before them, refused even this small compromise (Matthews and Platt, 2001).

Between 64 and 330 C.E. Pauls people would be subjected to dire persecutions, persecutions that would ultimately culminate into acceptance by the very Roman Empire that persecuted them in 313. The Great Persecutions would be first instituted by Nero, and even though they were local and brief they were really calamitous.  Then Emperor Domition (r. 81-96) who for the first time instituted the widespread persecution of Christians when they refused to obey his decree that all citizens of the Empire worship his person Emperor (Hopfe and Woodward, 2004).

When the old Roman Empire was crumbling from internal and external forces, and such emperors as Hadrian (r.117-138) and Marcus Aurelius reigned (r. 161-181 CE) blamed Christians for these sackings. The Christians were thus persecuted because they posed threat to the unity and strength of the old Roman ways (Ibid).

Then Pecius (249-250) mounted wide ranging political test that required all citizens to make a token sacrifice to the emperor. Christians refused. And what followed was devastating they were killed in large numbers. In 257, Valerian renewed this struggle. Cyprian, a bishop of Rome and one of the leading intellectuals of the age died in this struggle joining the list of martyrdom (Ibid).

The climax of these persecutions reached during Diocletians rule (284-305 C.E.). He instituted an empire wide movement that lasted eight years. He retired in 305 C.E. but persecution continued until 313 when the Edict of Milan-also known as the peace of the church -was put in place by Constantine. This edict put Christianity on the same pedestal as other religions. Constantine was influenced by his daughter and mother who were both Christians (Hopfe and Woodward, 2004 Matthews and Platt, 2001).

However, these persecutions only had the effect of strengthening Christians faith. The Emperors unsuccessful efforts testify to the religions widespread strength. Actually, the persecutions created some very fundamental doctrine in Christianity the veneration of martyrs. It also led to the cult of saints, thereafter an integral part of Christian piety (Chambers et al, 1999).

Noteworthy also is the fact that the growth of Christianity borrowed a lot from the Roman tradition as well Hellenistic values. Indeed, despite the persecutions from the Roman authorities, the Christian church drew much sustenance from the Greco-Roman culture. The church in West used the Latin language while that in East used Greek the canon law that governed the church was based on the civil law the church modeled itself on the Roman state with bishops controlling diocese just as the governors controlled administrative dioceses and the fact the church was moving towards monarchical governance with authority of officeholders believed to descend from Jesus faithful supporters (Matthews and Platt, 2001). Christianity just like the Roman Empire which was an empire of cities, it was noted, became an urban movement (Hadas, 1992).

There were several attempts by those who succeeded Constantine to revert to the state in which Christianity was outlawed allegedly to stabilize the Roman Empire, but they nothing concrete came out of it. Instead, with the reign of Theodosius (emperor from 379-395 C.E.), Christianity officially became the religion of the Roman Empire while, ironically, all the other religions were suppressed (Hopfe and Woodward, 2004 Matthew and Platt, 2004 Chambers et all, 1999).

After the ceasefire of Christian persecutions, and the official installation of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire, the church started having its own intellectuals, who became known as the Christian fathers. Peter and Paul and others must have been among the first church fathers. Church fathers though they extolled the virtues and benefits of the new faith they did not abandon the Classical philosophy and literature. They believed that some of these writings conveyed Gods veiled truth prior to the coming of Christ They therefore combined Classical with biblical learning (Matthews and Platt, 2004).

These fathers whose writings had the effect firmly establishing the Christian faith included Ambrose (about 340-397). A student of Greco-Roman classics from which he drew material support for sermons, tracts, and letters he opposed Arian heresy and condemned emperors for the social injustices of their reigns. He also popularly remembered for his hymns. Jerome (about 340-420) wrote extensively on religious issues. But he is famous for the translation of the Bible from Greek to Latin. This Bible was known as the Vulgate (common people). The third father was Augustine (354-430) had the greatest influence on Christianity. He also studied classical literature and neo-Platonism. And with his personality and administrative skills brought him to church politics then. Two of his greatest works, are The Confessions in which he talked candidly on his transformation from his childhood while in The City of God he exonerated Christians of blame that they were responsible for the fall of the Roman Empire. Instead he said that the destruction of Rome was a preparation of Gods divine kingdom (Matthews and Platt. 2004 Hopfe and Woodward, 2004).

Christianity is one of the hallmarks of Western civilization. Traditions such as the emphasis on taking care of the sick and homeless, for example, have been embedded in a variety private and public social relief programs. And all these started earnestly with Peters and Pauls missions.